Commentary: Legalizing drugs won't solve crime and addiction problem

Jim Commentucci/The Post-Standard NICK EYLE, founder of ReconsiDer, a national forum on drug policy that ad´vocates legalizing and regulating certain drugs, stands for a photo recently on the front porch of his home on Onondaga Avenue in Syracuse.

By Patrick Ryan

Nick Eyle (Sean Kirst column, “War cry: Regulate drugs, end carnage,” Oct. 10) is attempting to make sense of a situation lacking sense. For that he should be commended. The approach he advocates lacks the very sense he seeks.

Unequivocally, life is too precious to squander in a drug-induced stupor, or to forfeit a human life in quest of “easy” money that is tainted by human misery.

The violence tied to drugs is a core issue. However, drugs are not alone in causing the carnage. We’ve seen people killed over cookies, costume jewelry and even giving someone a “strange” look. It is an issue of lack of morality and lack of respect for human life.

Morality is taught in home, places of worship and, to a lesser degree, in schools. The dissolution of the family, the decline of formal religious observation and the politicizing of education are all factors in the rise of drugs and murder on the streets.

Because something is difficult to enforce is no justification for making the aberrant behavior legal. People have been stealing from each other since the dawn of time. People have been murdering each other as long. Would it make sense to legalize theft and homicide since it is not possible to eradicate thievery or murder?

The regulate-and-tax mentality will not work with drugs or murder. All of us, particularly those living in the afflicted areas, must unite to get the criminals off the streets. Candlelight vigils are useful for grieving relatives, but useless to stop the senseless deaths. Vigils affect criminals only if criminals have a moral compass. The quest for money and power will win out over morality more often than not.

Consistency in handling lawbreakers will go far to resolve the problem. Without regard to wealth or fame, all violators need to be subject to the same penalties. Actors and actresses and popular singers get rehab and fame for transgressions. Street kids get 7½ to 10 years for the same offense. Make the cost of illegal behavior just and certain, including life without parole for murder.

Major drug dealers should also serve life without parole. Drug dealers sell poisons to the addicted, yet in relative terms, we spank them. Consider if the Oklahoma bombers used poison to kill all of the people in the federal building. Would it have made the crime less egregious?

Legalizing drugs is insane thinking. It would be a faux solution, and not a very wise one. Just as smokers have become pariahs, make drug users and sellers pariahs, including denying them employment and fame. (Hospitals deny smokers jobs based upon their smoking habits. Ostracize drug users similarly.)

Deny acting assignments to actor addicts, and refuse to support venues with addicted actors and singers. We tolerate and accept their stupidity and watch impressionable people mimic it. As long as we tacitly accept drug use, we will be saddled with violence.

If aberrant behavior only requires societal acceptance, then we could eliminate crime by simply passing licensing laws for that behavior and collecting fees commensurate with the behavior. We would be left to live in anarchy and social degeneration. That is not comforting.